What were they thinking?

According to the FCC the nation’s largest wireless carriers were all secretly selling YOUR location information–in real time–to third-party companies without permission.

This is simply crazy.

As Chairwoman Rosenworcel said today: “Our communications providers have access to some of the most sensitive information about us. These carriers failed to protect the information entrusted to them. Here, we are talking about some of the most sensitive data in their possession: customers’ real-time location information, revealing where they go and who they are,..”

Just nuts. Cannot believe these guys would be so dirty.

Here are an example of the specifics from the order against AT&T:

Customer Location Information and AT&T Location-Based Services Business Model. AT&T provides mobile voice and data services to consumers throughout the United States by enabling consumer mobile phones to make and receive calls or transmit data on AT&T’s wireless network.26 As part of its business, AT&T ran a Location-Based Services (LBS) program until March 2019. Through the LBS program, AT&T sold access to its customers’ location information to companies known as “location information aggregators,” who then resold access to such information to third-party location-based service providers or in some cases to intermediary companies who then resold access to such information to location-based service providers.27 AT&T had arrangements with two location information aggregators: LocationSmart and Zumigo (the Aggregators).28 Each Aggregator, in turn, had arrangements with location-based service providers. In total, AT&T sold access to its customers’ location information (directly or indirectly) to 88 third-party entities (including the two Aggregators).

Wow!

Your location data was sold to 88 different companies!!! And that was just by AT&T!

FCC just hammered the carriers for nearly $200MM in penalties–maybe not enough in my view. Just terrible behavior here.

The Forfeiture Orders are available here:

• AT&T, Inc. Forfeiture Order: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-fines-att-57m-location-data-violations
• Sprint Corporation Forfeiture Order: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-fines-sprint-12m-location-data-violations
• T-Mobile USA, Inc. Forfeiture Order: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-fines-t-mobile-80m-location-data-violations
• Verizon Communications Forfeiture Order: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-fines-verizon-46m-location-data-violations

You can read more here:

https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-fines-largest-wireless-carriers-sharing-location-data

And if we cant trust our domestic carriers to behave how much less can we trust the FORIEGN OWNED campaign registry that is tracking everything businesses and politicians do using SMS in this country?

Our telecom infrastructure is a mess.

We need to get smarter folks.